Yad Vashem slams new plaques blaming German unit for Polish massacre of Jews in 1941

Crowd-funded signs at Jedwabne site say — contrary to Poland’s own investigation — that ‘German pacification unit,’ not local Poles, burned hundreds of Jews alive in a locked barn

WARSAW, Poland — Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, on Thursday condemned as a “desecration of historical truth” new plaques near a Polish monument to the wartime Jedwabne massacre of Jews by their Polish neighbors.

The plaques question the official findings and claim that “the crime was committed by a German pacification unit” instead of local Poles.

The new installation consists of seven boulders with signs in English and Polish and is located on private property next to the memorial, according to Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

Polish journalist Wojciech Sumlinski said on X that he was behind the installation, which had been crowd-funded.

“Yad Vashem is profoundly shocked and deeply concerned by the desecration of historical truth and memory at the Jedwabne memorial site in Poland, where new plaques were recently installed in an apparent attempt to distort the story of the massacre of Jews,” said the memorial in a statement.

“Yad Vashem calls on the relevant Polish authorities to remove this offensive installation and to ensure that the historical meaning of the site is preserved and respected,” it added.

Jedwabne, teraz. pic.twitter.com/A2GxdGrkkd

— Leszek Żebrowski_NSZ #BabiesLivesMatter (@Zebrowski_NSZ) July 10, 2025

Thursday marked the 84th anniversary of the massacre, which saw Polish peasants in the northeastern village of Jedwabne lock hundreds of their Jewish neighbors in a barn and burn them alive.

The victims included women and children.

File – Former Polish President Alekdander Kwasniewski touches the statue after praying for the dead at a ceremony marking 70 years since Poland’s villagers murdered hundreds of their Jewish neighbors during World War II in Jedwabne, Poland, July 10, 2011. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish-born US historian Jan Tomasz Gross shed light on the role of local residents in his book “Neighbors,” which sent shock waves across Poland and prompted a presidential apology in 2001.

A Polish commission of inquiry concluded in 2003 that the 1941 massacre was perpetrated by Jedwabne’s Poles, urged on by the Nazi occupiers, rather than by the latter, as long claimed.

Thousands of Jews perished at the hands of their Polish neighbors during the war, particularly in rural areas.

Thousands of Poles also risked the death penalty for their entire families to save Jews, and Yad Vashem has recognized over 7,000 Poles — more than any other nationality — as “Righteous Among the Nations” for helping save Jews in the Holocaust.